2.4.11

Isaiah 53:4-6

4Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
5But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.


Dear friend,

Having not grown up in the church singing hymns and songs, many times I have the pleasure and joy of "discovering" and singing them for the first time with a sense of newness. The hymn "O Sacred Head, Now Wounded", and especially the second verse, immediately brings to mind these verses in the book of Isaiah. My prayer for us today (and everyday) is that we would keep our minds steadfast on the cross in full realization of the cost of our transgressions and to be lavished by the riches of God's grace and mercy through Jesus Christ.

"What thou, my Lord, has suffered
was all for sinners' gain;
mine, mine was the transgression,
but thine the deadly pain.
Lo, here I fall, my Savior!
'Tis I deserve thy place;
look on me with thy favor,
vouchsafe to me thy grace."

In Christ,
Mike